Koreans file protest of Hamm's victory
JUDGES CHEATED ONE OF THEIR GYMNASTS, THEY SAY
By Phil Sheridan
Knight Ridder
ATHENS, Greece - The South Korean men's gymnastics team has challenged the scoring that led to Paul Hamm's all-around gold medal in a protest filed with the International Gymnastics Federation.
The protest challenges the high bar score given to Korea's Yang Tae-young. Yang, who performed on the bars just before Hamm's gold-medal-clinching routine, received a 9.475 from the judges. The score was based on what the judges determined was a start value, or maximum possible score, of 9.9. The Koreans contend that the start value should have been 10.0. The difference would have pushed Yang, who won bronze, past Hamm and silver medalist Kim Dae-eun of Korea.
The IGF issued a statement Thursday night saying that ``judges' marks have to be accepted as a final decision and cannot be changed.''
Hamm's coach, Miles Avery, said the Koreans' position was a case of ``sour grapes.''
``I thought Paul was underscored on the floor and on the rings,'' Avery said. ``And I thought the Koreans were overscored in places.''
코치왈: 난 폴이 마루와 링경기서 점수를 낮게 받았다고 생각한다. 그리고 한국선수들이 몇종목서는 점수를 높게 받았다고 생각한다.
Hamm received scores of 9.837 on the parallel bars and on the high bar, allowing him to leap from 12th place to first after a fall on the vault.
``I'm sure it's upsetting for some of the other gymnasts to see me win with a mistake,'' Hamm said Thursday, alluding to his spectacular tumble on the vault. ``I don't think people like that, especially competitors. I think it makes them feel that you didn't perform at the level of previous Olympic champions.''
폴햄왈: 내가 실수를 저지르고도 금메달을 딴것이 다른선수들에게 화나는일일꺼다. 사람들이 싫어했을꺼다 (특히나 같은경기치룬 다른선수들) 특히나 내가 전회 올림픽 챔편들의 수준의 실력을 못보여줬다고 느낄테니..
But, Hamm pointed out, he was competing only against the gymnasts on the floor Wednesday night.
그러나 폴햄이 강조하듯이 수요일날 폴햄의 경쟁상대는 같이 경기치룬 선수들이지 전회 올림픽 챔편들이 아니다.
``The judges have no reason to want to overscore me,'' Hamm said. ``Those were just two of the best routines I've ever done in my life. Besides that one event, I stuck every landing, and the other gymnasts out there made mistakes, too.
``The two Koreans were not favored to be at the top. They were just lucky that other people made mistakes.''
폴햄왈: 심판들은 나한테 후한 점수를 줄 이유가, 명분이 없다. 마지막 두개의 종목은 내인생에서 최고로 훌륭했던 연기였다. 하나의 종목(뜀틀말하는거져) 제외하곤 착지가 좋았다. 그리고 다른 선수들도 다른 실수가 있었고.
그리고 잴로 열받는말,
2명의 한국선수들은 탑에 랭크되기로 예상됬던 선수들이 아니다.
그들은 운이 좋았던것이다, 다른선수들이 실수를 했으니..
(미칩니다, 어쩌머 한국애들 진짜 운좋았다는말으 할수있습니까-_-;; 스포츠인정신이 전혀없는듯)
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, the International Olympic Committee awarded a second gold medal in pairs figure skating after a judging controversy. In that case, however, a French judge was found to have promised a higher score to the Russian team in exchange for a higher score for a French ice dancing team.
그리고 이건 2002년 동계올림픽때 프랑스심판이 러시와 심판과 짜고는 매달줄려고 서로팀들 점수 높이 주자고 짜서는 희생양으로 캐나다팀이 은매달을땄었는데, (제가 캐나다살아서 아는데 이때 난리났었어요 신문일면에 도배대고 뉴스톱으로다루고..) 근데 결국은 따져서는 캐나다팀 금메달받었습니다^^ 아마도 피겨스케이팅도 심판의 결정에의해 메달순위가 집계되는 종목이다보니 이경우를 예를든듯.
This protest questions the decision of the judges, who assign a start value based upon the routine that is performed. As Avery pointed out, the U.S. team could counter with a protest of the start values assigned Hamm's routines on floor and rings.
``I just feel that I barely edged them out,'' Hamm said. ``I thought the scoring was fair. If you look at the tape and analyze, I think people will come to that conclusion.''
근데 한국선수 start value 가 10짜린데 9.9로 했다고해서 complain file한거라면서,
이문제애 대해서 재수없는 폴햄코치 응수하길,
미국도 이의제기 할수있따고. 폼햄의 마루와, 링 점수매길때 시작점수가 낮았다고 그러네요.
마지막으로 폴햄의 말이 압권입니다.
내가 힘들게 아슬아슬하게 이겼다고 생각한다.
그러나 점수는 공정했으며, 경기내용 태잎를 다시보고 분석한다면 사람들이 나와같은 결론에 도달할것이다..
진짜 열불납니다..
제가 중학교떄 이민와서 한글이 좀 부족한면이 있지만,
읽고는 너무 속이 부글부글 끓어서 대강 번역했습니다..
진짜 개념없는 미국-_-;;
참, 다른기사보니 4위한 루마니아 선수,
다른말은 할거없고 미국선수가 너무 높은 점수받았다..라고만했다네요.
루마니아 선수단사람들도 미국선수 제외한 다른이들의 점수는 다 공정했다라고 하고요..
다른 미국 워싱턴포스트에 칼럼쓰는 사람은..
아..이것도 열불나는데, 요점하자면,
올림픽 종목중 심판의 판단이 크게 작용하는 경기들에서 controversy가 많은데,
이번 폴햄 금매달 딴것도 뒷말이 많다고 글을썼네요..
근데 이사람은 폴햄의 금매달이 정당한거다 라며 글을썼어요..
다른 편파판정 예를 들어가면서 그거에 비교하면 폴햄은 전혀 편파아니였다는 식으로.
오히려 실수를 극복하고 용기를 잃지않고 노력해서,
그사람의 최고의 연기를 보여 금을딴거니 존경해야한다면서..
챔편만이 이럴수 있는거라고-_-;; 아주 영웅 존경하라 난리네요..
어이가 팍팍 없어요..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17035-2004Aug19.html
On Judgment Calls, Different Answers
By Michael Wilbon
Friday, August 20, 2004; Page D11
ATHENS
If you want Olympic controversy, don't hang around basketball or water polo or even track. Fabulous results are dramatic, but all except the most historic recede with time. If you want to see raised ire and seriously righteous indignation mixed with intense nationalism, there are three Olympic venues for you: figure skating, boxing and gymnastics, the latter two of which we have in the Summer Games.
Show me a sport that is dependent on judging, and I'll show you accusations, allegations and denials. Boxing has been rather strangely free of judging controversy for consecutive Olympics, which is downright disappointing if you prefer scandal with your competition. Gymnastics had a little taste of drama late Wednesday, which amounts to nothing more than sour grapes if you believe U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm executed one of the great come-from-behind victories in the sport's Olympic history, but a miscarriage of justice if you're the Korean gymnasts relegated to bronze and silver, or the Romanians, who apparently didn't want to stand by in silence.
American Paul Hamm, on the horizontal bar, gained a gold medal Wednesday in the men's individual all-around event that generated controversy. (Wolfgang Rattay -- Reuters)
Romanian gymnast Ioan Silviu Suciu said after Hamm's completely unanticipated victory in the men's individual all-around event, "The only thing I can say is that the USA got something more than it deserved."
And another Romanian gymnast, Marian Dragulescu, said, "Everyone got a fair judgment, with the exception of the USA that got a little bit more."
For those of you who didn't see Hamm, an Opie Taylor-like little dude from a small Wisconsin town, win the gold medal and instantly become an Olympic star, let's recap:
Hamm, the world champion in the all-around event, staggered, teetered and fell while landing his vault. That dumped him from first to 12th place with only two events remaining. "I'd never fallen on the vault before, never in competition," Hamm said Thursday morning. "I thought I had lost myself any chance at a medal. I thought, 'How am I ever going to dig myself out of this hole?' My initial thought was, 'That's it.' "
That's certainly what the Koreans and Romanians -- and at least one American sportswriter -- thought as well. But then one of those inspiring Olympic moments came from nowhere. Just as Hamm began thinking, "Okay, I can still win bronze. I can do this," his personal coach, Miles Avery, said to Hamm, "It's not impossible, Paul. Go out and score two 9.8s."
Avery, the head coach at Ohio State, smiled at the retelling of the story. "Of course, he hadn't scored a 9.8 yet. [But] I knew it was in him."
Avery also noticed the tension was unusually high on the floor with gymnasts pacing and fretting, so many knowing gold was within reach. The competitors ahead of Hamm were making mistakes, too. "They kept coming back and coming back," Avery said.
Except Hamm. He got his 9.8s -- 9.837, to be exact. "They don't want to give anybody 9.9, and 9.8s are very rare air," Avery said.
Because the field was so bunched and because nobody separated himself from Hamm, he went from 12th back to first. Avery said: "It wasn't a stretch. I don't think he got any help at all. I thought [other competitors] got helped in some places. I thought he got underscored on the floor rings."
Asked if he had heard comments from the Romanians that suggested he'd been unfairly handed the gold medal that was hanging around his neck by the judges, Hamm said be believed he earned the medal by performing near perfectly in the five other phases of the all-around, then added, "I think it's upsetting to some of the other gymnasts to see me win with a mistake . . . that you didn't perform as well as other Olympic champions did."
That's it in a nutshell. The other competitors, not to mention those skeptical of Olympic judges, wonder how you can fall, literally, to 12th in the standings, then do enough in just two events to make it back to first. When stuff like this happens in figure skating, when people try to judge from their sofas and see a skater fall yet win while others stay on their feet and finish back in the pack, folks scream bloody murder. It's as close as the Olympic set gets to Monday morning quarterbacking.
Not that the gymnastic judges have ever been called into question the way skating and boxing judges have in recent Olympic history. Skating judges, traditionally, are bigger divas than the skaters, showing up to look at practices and essentially determining through their own self-importance the favorites before the start of the event. Remember, we're only two years away from that French judge being suspended after that Salt Lake City Olympic fiasco that was so unforgivably bad that an extra gold medal was ultimately awarded to the Canadian pairs as a make good.
And don't get me started on Olympic boxing. The judges' decision to award gold in Seoul to a Korean boxer who had been beaten senseless by American Roy Jones in the final could be the most offensive episode of judging in Olympic history.
(We even had a moment at the pool Thursday night when American swimmer Aaron Peirsol was disqualified after winning the 200-meter backstroke for making an illegal turn, then within 20 minutes reinstated as the winner after a successful appeal to the judges. Goodness, is there no safe haven from Olympic judges?)
Nothing so egregious happened in Hamm's victory Wednesday night. The kid will be a guest on Leno or vault over some dead body on "Law & Order" this fall. What's done is done. And if certain competitors hate seeing someone awarded victory after an obvious mistake, they also have to admire a person who crash lands, gets up, maintains his composure on the biggest stage of all, and turns in the performance of his life on both the parallel bars and the high bar. To earn the medal the kid had to exhibit some mettle. Only a champ has the resolve to climb out of that kind of hole.
As Avery said in the strongest and most convincing defense of his pupil, "It's like falling down, then getting up and winning a sprint."
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